Cultural Figure and Artist Changemakers for Social and Environmental Transformations

Culture plays a foundational role in helping to accelerate sustainable development. Yet, despite existing efforts, the integration of culture in sustainable development has not become mainstream in public policies, initiatives, and programs from multi-stakeholders in governments, businesses, and civil society. Relative to its power and potential as a part of the solution in realizing social and environmental sustainability in society, the role of culture remains underrated.

With this in mind, Green Network Asia felt called upon to help mainstream the integration of culture in sustainable development through our daily knowledge production and dissemination work, both independently and through strategic partnerships with various organizations. We wanted to showcase how culture could serve as a powerful strategy and approach in the efforts to tackle the world’s wicked problems, such as the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, waste & pollution, deforestation, poverty, gender inequality, the marginalization of Indigenous peoples and people with disabilities, and others.

In this book, we are sharing the authentic life stories of cultural figures and artists – from grassroots to maestros – who do creative work for social and environmental changes in society through cultural strategies. We researched the profiles of relevant individuals throughout Indonesia using the lens of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). We delved into their stories and works through in-depth interviews, then wrote and published them as creative content for public education that is accessible to everyone, in Indonesian and English.

We thank the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia for the strategic partnership with Green Network Asia in this initiative. Based on our impact evaluation, we found that the featured cultural figures and artists felt directly impacted by this initiative, especially in support of their work in the field. Among the benefits they felt were the accurate representation of their thoughts and feelings as well as the expanded collaboration opportunities with various actors in their fields due to the increased exposure of their profiles and works.

Furthermore, we hope this collection inspires other cultural figures and artists in Indonesia and across the globe to get involved and contribute to help solving the social and environmental problems within their localities through creative works based on cultural strategies. We encourage governments, businesses, and civil society organizations to develop policies, initiatives, and programs that support mainstreaming culture in sustainable development, considering the great power and potential it holds in accelerating social and environmental changes at the local, national, and even international levels.

The Green Network Asia team will not stop here. We will keep actively supporting the effort to mainstream culture in sustainable development through our interdisciplinary creative works. We welcome any collaboration potentials and support from all to realize this big mission.

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Marlis Afridah

Editor-in-Chief at Green Network Asia | Website | + posts

Marlis is the Founder & CEO of Green Network Asia. She holds a master's degree in Public Policy from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. She is an interdisciplinary public policy researcher and public affairs practitioner with an integrated focus on sustainability and sustainable development. She brings over a decade of cross-sector experience working with think tanks, governments, businesses, and civil society in Asia, with expertise in policy research and advocacy, government relations, and stakeholder engagement.